Rick Santorum Responds to Rick Perry on Negative Attacks

Updated at 2:30 am, December 30th, 2011

Steve Pope/Getty Images(DAVENPORT, Iowa) — For the first time in this race, Rick Santorum finds himself getting not only noticed by the other candidates, but on the receiving end of attacks.

Rick Perry released a radio ad Thursday hitting Santorum for earmarks he supported while he was in Congress. On Thursday evening, Santorum responded, telling reporters after his event that “it’s been sort of difficult to go through this race and not get punched.”

While his opponents — especially Newt Gingrich — have been under assault via television and radio ads, as well as mailers in Iowa, Santorum has been able to fly under the radar. But now that a CNN/Time poll released Wednesday put him at third place in the race behind Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, he’s fair game.

Thursday evening, Santorum held a town hall at a senior center in Davenport, Iowa, to an enthusiastic crowd of over 300, speaking and answering questions for almost two hours.

After his event, Santorum said in previous races he’s been “beaten, bloodied, bruised” — a big difference from this cycle.

“I say it all the time, I don’t have a perfect record, but I have a pretty darn good one and the reasons I did what I did, if I made a mistake I admit it, but if I think I did the right thing, I’m going to stand up and fight for the things I believe in,” he said.

He defended some of the past earmarks he requested and supported, which includes Alaska’s infamous “Bridge to Nowhere,” against Perry’s criticism.

“I’m not too sure that earmarking funds, when Rick Perry hired people to earmark funds for Texas, is necessarily a great shot by Rick Perry. And every congressman in the state of Iowa did the same thing. Every senator earmarked funds, and this is something that the state of Iowa understands is — was done and has been done for a long time. And subsequent to my being in the Senate was found to be abusive and was ended,” Santorum said. “So, I don’t — if this is the best they got against me, they better go back to the drawing board.”